I posted this at the FDP forum a month or so ago. I posted it to share with other Keef fanatics what I've been working on for the last 2 years. Of course that, unintentionally, invited one gomer to criticize ad nauseum my intent with this project. He wouldn't let up that I have it strung for 6 string rather than 5 string playing. "I've missed the feel of Keith's Micawber by having it strung for 6 string play". It wasn't my intent to build a guitar I couldn't play. I am in no way able to play alternate tunings with 5 strings in any musical way. So either this is strung and tuned for 5 string open G............then hang it on the wall....................or set it up where I can actually play it.......6 strings, standard tuning.
By the same argument, how dare the SRV strat be called a replica of Lenny when most people don't down tune a half step..........nor do they string it up with 12s. Damn! Its still a Lenny replica!
Oh, and the same guy was all over me for being so "self congratulating". Man, forgive me for being happy with how this turned out!
Regardless, it turned out pretty good and I PLAY IT! If keef would like a go on it I'd happily pull the bottom E and tune it to open G for him. No worries Keith........I'll set it up how you like it.
Anyway, here is my "cut and paste" of the same post from the FDP.......enjoy:
Have a look at the shots in my "Micawber" album.
http://www.msnusers.com/NewR8/micawber.msnw?albumlist=2
Here's the story:
I bought a '52 American Vintage re-issue in 2001. Great guitar and light as a feather at 6.5lbs, resonated like mad. But I just couldn't get used to how orange the neck was and especially that horrid poly finish. Yes Fender uses nitro on these but ONLY on the top coat, the rest is poly. I didn't realize how thick it was until one day when I removed the pickgaurd to adjust the neck pickup and when I looked at one of the screw holes I could see that the finish was easily thicker than a dime!! UGH!!
So off to my friend the luthier I went. I wanted him to strip it and refinish it in a real '50's Tele finish with 100% thin nitro. Along the way I had him route out the hole for the electronics a little more square at the ends......just like it should be for a '52.
He had a HELL of a time getting the finish off. NONE of his chemical stripers would do it and in the end it was removed VERY carefully with tools......a lot of it came off in sheets!
Well it was taking some time because of his busy schedule so in the meantime I was jonesing for a Nocaster......which I bought. So the fate of the '52 was about to change. I thought what will I do with 2 similar Teles..........I'd LOVE to have a Tele with a humbucker in the neck like Keef....I'll do it! I had my tech route it out for a humbucker.
As this was being done my crazy mind got thinking again.....hmm....I've already modded and probably devalued this guitar......what the hell, I'll do this right! So the search began for the BEST photos I could find of Micawber. WOW is that tough!! There are a million pics of Keef with Micawber but most are concert shots that are little to no help for getting a good look at little details. So the best (and only) pictures I had that were of any help were 3 pictures from the December 1988 Issue of Guitar World. Duchossoir's Tele book was also a lot of help.
By the best of my hours of staring at photos I determined his Tele is definitely a late '53 or early '54.
This meant I needed to do this to the guitar:
- Correct finish
- Round back neck 0.92" at 1st fret, 1.0" at 12th
- Sperzel tuners, all chrome, correct buttons
- Real bone nut
- Round string tee
- 12th fret markers wide spacing
- All screws phillips head
- Brass flat bridge plate
- Brass individual saddles
- 60's style vol and tone controls
- Strat switch tip
- CRL 3 way switch (ditched chinese one)
- Wired as 60's Tele with 0.05uf tone cap and 0.001uf cap on the volume.
- Custom rewound (7.4K) '52 vintage bridge pickup by Lindy Fralin with both "G" and "D" magnets exchanged for taller ones ala Keith's Tele (the others remained flush with the bobbin), and white cloth used to final wrap the coil.
- Gibson Burst Bucker PAF (7.5K) not wax potted but magnet removed and potted to eliminate feedback. Cover is made by "Dead Mint Club" in Japan.....it has the proper squareish corners as 50's PAFs did.....not the softer more rounded ones on 60's to present humbuckers. The cover is German nickel silver and thin like the origionals with NO final nickel plate so it also dulls and tarnishes quickley like the origionals.
- Pickgaurd cut for Gibson mounting ring rather than the usual humbucker mounted directly to gaurd.
- A poodle case as would have been used in 53/54.
Final weight just under 7lbs.
The challenges:
1) Correct mod to bridge pickup
2) Finding a bridge plate that fit the vintage mounting screw position but didn't have the new "side" but rather "centre" attachment of saddles to intonation screws - THIS WAS TOUGH.
3) Ditched the saddles that came with the bridge since they were cast zinc garbage.....substituded proper brass saddles.
4) Issues getting the finish right.
5) THE NECK!!
The neck was a hassle! I was going to use the origional one from the '52 but everything was comming together so nicely that it would have brought down the effect and final mojo of the project. I parused the internet thinking Warmoth would be my best bet but then I saw B. Hefner's site.....long story short....2 VERY poor quality necks later I went back to my gut feeling.....Warmoth. I ordered a neck from warmoth.....a boat shape neck, but once I had it here and finished I realized I made a mistake and it should have been a round baseball bat profile for a '53/'54 Tele. Oh well, this needs to be perfect now so off to e-bay with that neck and back to Warmoth for number 4.
The final and perfect neck was a vintage Tele type routed for Sperzels, 12th fret markers wide spacing, 1" thick from end to end. This neck is only available as a 1" thick neck so my luthier shaved it down to my specifications for me before he finished it. Now it is the look and dimensions of the average '53/'54 neck. Fender repalcement necks are more 'v' and thinner than what they should be...12th fret markers are narrow spacing......so they wouldn't be correct for Micawber.
So there it is. It took almost 2 years to get it done for all the waiting on parts, finishing work, rethinking and redoing things. In the end this is the CLOSEST replica to Keith Richard's Micawber that exists in the world I am absolutely sure of that fact. If there is another I'd love to hear the story on how that came to be.....there may be other crazy Richard's fans like me out there doing the same thing.
The only things that are different are:
1) 'slight' difference in headstock shape near low 'E' tuner.
2) No relicing.......new condition
3) not a real PAF
4) saddles are slightly different......closest possible match.
5) Strap locks....gotta do it! Vintage type buttons are in the case.
6) No missing adjustment screw for bridge pickup.
7) Strung for 6 string
8) body doesn't have the square neck pocket and subsequent protruding lip as origionl Tele's (and reissue Nocaster) have.
9) No "remnants" of vintage tuner screw holes before Sperzels went on......I may yet do this for the vibe.
So other than these few tiny differences its exact.
And yes, it sounds and plays absolutely fantastic.
The finish is translucent but it doesn't show in the photos.....it looks opaque but it isn't.
I've seen the Fender Japan Micawber.....it has several things that are not like Micawber (and its strung with 6 strings!). There is also a company in the US that'll make them for you. They are also pretty far off but do relic it close to what Micawber looks like. Both of these sources use the wrong tuners, neck, pickups, saddles, knobs, other things.
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Love the tele..it looks great.!!! 
) good point, tho'.
Originally Posted by cooltone
! Yeeeeouch! Did you have to use "bladder" & "sanded" in the same sentence?:bwa
